Page:Monthly scrap book, for March.pdf/7

 SCRAP BOOK. 7 is necessary to promote the important process of digestion. In the days of falconry, small balls of worsted were administered to hawks after a gorge; and every one knows that canaries, linnets, &c., pick up sand and other substances, and thus avert many dyspepticevils to which thousands, with reason to guide them, are martyrs during the greater part of their lives. Eagles, when confined, are generally fed every second day, though it is known they can fast for a week or more, without any great abatement of strength. Like the Indian hunter, their means of subsistence are rather precarious, and at certain seasons, they must often pass the day without a meal. Mr Stewart's eagle---a fact which I hold to be not a little curious---refuses to touch a bird of prey, however hungry he maybe at the time. Again and again the experiment has been tried, and as often, after smelling the quarry, and pluck- ing off a few feathers, hawks, ravens, owls, and bats, have been thrown aside as a tainted thing. I have already hinted that birds of this kind appear to be untameable; and I very much doubt whether they could be taught, after the greatest care, to obey the falconer's call or whistle, and hunt as much for other's pleasure as their own. After an acquaint- ance of several years’ standing, Mr Stewart and his eagle are on as distant terms as they were, at first---so much so, that in approaching him, he must carry a stick, and move very warily to boot, to eschew the consequences of a flap of the wing--- a stroke of the beak---or a dig of the claws. Every dog that has heard his chirrup, takes care to keep at a respectful distance; and if a stranger cur